Windows 8 details revealed: Will be very different, but still compatible

Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft’s Windows and Windows Live Division, is speaking at the D9 conference tonight. If you know who Sinofsky is the you probably already knew that in this highly awaited talk he was expected to reveal details (and video) of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8. This wouldn’t at all be the first Windows 8 information we’ve gotten but it’s official stuff coming from the highest level, delivered to a room full of journalist, technocrats, and business-types all of whom are paying very close attention.

The WSJ’s AllThingsD arm, who holds the conference, was nice enough to provide a liveblog of the Q&A session between Sinofsky and columnist Walt Mossberg. No livestream was made available but we’ll take some time and run and paraphrase the high points and lay down some implications of what was covered.

Before we get started–For a closer look at Windows 8, AllThingsD was given an exclusive sneak peak earlier today. Also, don’t miss this Windows 8 Preview up at Microsoft, there are some interests details. Lots of information was made available today, scheduled along with D9.

Here is a video preview:

And now for some highlights from today’s news, some of which we actually knew already:

Windows 8 will run on system-on-a-chip (SoC) architecture.

There will be a new, different interface with a tile-based menu that replaces the standard Start menu

Live Tiles will be used, just like in Windows Phone

IE10 will be both hardware-accelerated and optimized for touch

Windows 8 will be fully compatible with all Windows 7-compatible hardware and software

Win 8 won’t just be for laptops and desktops but also for alternative devices like slates and all-in-ones

We’ll learn more about Windows 8 at the BUILD conference in September

And back to Sinofsky…

Touch

Windows 8 will be fully touch-capable (just like Windows 7 was) but it will be touch for 2011, in other words, touch in the post-iPad world. Windows 7 had a full set of touch features but it was developed for a different paradigm than the tablets of today. Touch will not exist in an abstraction layer, it’s built right into the core of the OS.

Legacy and ARM

Sinofsky says Windows isn’t weighed down by its past, rather it’s able to continue to evolve. And despite the new version number and new features, Windows 8 won’t require more hardware power to run. Plus (as expected) it will run on ARM chips!

While everything that runs on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8 when using Intel and AMD processors, don’t expect the same for ARM processors. It’s not entirely clear yet, but chances are that won’t be the case. Sinofsky has said that an emulation layer (which would enable normal programs to run on ARM-Windows), while seemingly logical, will not be made available because of technical challenges. More will be revealed about Windows 8/ARM at Computex this week.

There is definitely more here, as evidenced by the line “4:13 pm: Sinofsky talks about legacy support.” but we’ll have to wait for some video to find out what was said. The liveblog, sadly, isn’t a perfect retelling of the event.

The Windows 8 tile-based Start menu

Programs

In addition to normal Windows program, Win 8 will also be able to run mobile-style programs that are made out of HTML5 and Javascript. These will take up the fullscreen and run through Internet Explorer 10, which will have built-in compatibility.

Naming

Windows 8 is just a codename, but that’s what they are calling it now. Sinofsky mentioned using something cooler, like Firestorm (or Longhorn), but they decided to just stick with Windows 8.

Release date / Pricing

Pretty soon, but not this fall. The next milestone is at BUILD in mid-September. No details on pricing we made available today either.

There was a lot more covered, like the use of tiles and the Window App Store, but we’ll have to wait for the full video to get a better feel for that. The most revealing piece of all today’s Windows 8 talk might just be the fact that Sinofsky and MS VP for User Experience Julie Larsen-Green came out and said that this is the biggest set of changes to Windows since Windows 95. This is the Windows-Mobile-to-Windows-Phone shift many people have been looking for from the desktop OS (just with all the legacy junk included for the sake of compatibility), and we’re excited about it.

By the way, don’t miss the video embedded above, it covers a lot of the look-and-feel points that don’t come across in text.

“Windows 8 will be fully compatible with all Windows 7-compatible hardware and software.” If past is prologue, this statement will not hold up. And, BTW, what about all the Vista and XP compatible equipment I’ve got sitting around my office? Are those now door stops? As far as what to call this how about “Lioness.”

http://www.facebook.com/reynoldsr Richard Reynolds

Not terribly impressed. It’s not like they did away with the original interface..they just came up with an application to run on top of it..

lonegunmen

Looks like crap. The windows phone UI sucks and it will suck on the desktop. Hopefully we can turn off this stupid Tile Interface and just use the much better standard task bar interface.

Diego

When is Microsoft going to drop the ‘Windows’ brand? It’s dead.

These new ‘versions’ of windows don’t even have windows viewers…they have Tiles…

Sal Cangeloso

To be fair this early demo is essentially that–an new UI layered on top of Win 7. There should be more extensive changes later on.

Blah

This new version is ugly…. Don’t like it.

Tuneup

Sal, thanks for the
great overview. I had no idea that Sinofsky was thinking of using a different
name (Longhorn is hilarious) and am surprised that Sinofsky says this is the
biggest change to Windows since Windows 95. But, I also did a review of Windows
8, and after looking at this completely refreshing user interface I can see why
he’d say that. You touched on the compatibility with Windows 7, and if you
check out my review I expand upon this to explain why IT pros who want an iPad
style with Windows 7 features can have it both ways: http://bit.ly/mRbffh

http://spookscentral.com/ Kurt Barlow

who cares? http://www.linuxmint.com. Looks like windoze put a phone operating system on a desktop monitor. absolutely retodded.